Experiencing Production System Malfunction, Toyota Temporarily Stops Production In All Factories In Japan

Toyota's Motomachi factory. (Doc. Global Toyota)

JAKARTA - The world's largest automotive company, Toyota, has surprisingly stopped operating all assembly plants in Japan due to damage to the production system.

The temporary suspension of operations of all assembly factories in Japan was announced by the company today.

Reuters reported Tuesday, August 29, a Toyota spokesman said the company was investigating the cause of the problem and said it was likely not due to a cyberattack. This disruption resulted in Toyota unable to order the necessary components.

Toyota has stopped operating its 12 factories since Tuesday morning, with the remaining two factories in operating condition. However, all 14 factories will be discontinued after today's second shift, and they have not calculated the loss from the loss of production.

The existence of this incident is a major blow to the manufacturer considering Toyota's production in Japan is in the process of recovering after a series of production plans were reduced due to a shortage of semiconductors.

Based on Reuters calculations, production in Japan rose 29% in the first half of this year, which is the first upgrade in two years. Daily production for Toyota brands in Japan, without including Daihatsu and Hino, averaged around 13,500 vehicles in the first half of the year.

Last year, Toyota's operations also stalled when one of its suppliers was targeted for cyber attacks. That day disruption alone has resulted in a loss of production of around 13,000 cars.

Although the cause of this disruption is unclear, Japan's overall business climate has been in a state of alert in recent days as several companies and government offices have reported large number of phone calls disruptions.

The Japanese government stated that the calls may have come from China regarding the release of radioactive water that had been processed from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.

Toyota shares were reported to have fallen 0.3% to 2,429 yen at the start of early trading in Tokyo.